Yael Farber, a playwright, in New York, Oct. 15, 2012. Farber's play "Mies Julie," a South African adaptation of August Strindberg's play, is having its American premiere at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn through Dec. 2, 2012. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times) -- PHOTO MOVED IN ADVANCE AND NOT FOR USE - ONLINE OR IN PRINT - BEFORE NOV. 4, 2012.

Photo: Chester Higgins Jr, New York Times

Yael Farber, a playwright, in New York, Oct. 15, 2012. Farber's...

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From left: Thokozile Ntshinga, Bongile Mantsai and Hilda Cronje in "Mies Julie," in an undated handout photo. "Mies Julie," a South African adaptation of August Strindberg's play, is having its American premiere at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn through Dec. 2, 2012. (William Burdett-Coutts via The New York Times) -- NO SALES; FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY WITH STORY SLUGGED THEATER MIES JULIE ADV04. ALL OTHER USE PROHIBITED. -- PHOTO MOVED IN ADVANCE AND NOT FOR USE - ONLINE OR IN PRINT - BEFORE NOV. 4, 2012.

One character tends to bleed into another in the five plays that make up Cutting Ball Theater's "Strindberg Cycle." That's partly by design. For the little theater's hugely ambitious project - staging all of August Strindberg's late chamber plays in repertory (the first time it's ever been done) - director Rob Melrose has cast the same actors in similar roles wherever he can.

The tactic works to underscore Strindberg's recurring themes. But it also exposes the limitations of his dramaturgy - and why the seminal Swedish playwright has long been more honored in America by citations of his influence than by actual productions.

It's still an impressive effort to mark the centennial of Strindberg's death - with a large acting ensemble, an in-depth website and incisive new translations by Paul Walsh (available from Exit Press). Cutting Ball opened "The Ghost Sonata" first (reviewed Oct. 22), followed by "The Pelican" and "The Black Glove" on Oct. 27, and "Storm" and "Burned House" on Saturday. Five-play marathons take up the final two weekends.

Strindberg's celebrated minimalism and cosmic pessimism, foreshadowing Beckett and Pinter, is counterbalanced by bursts of verbosity, underdeveloped ideas and streaks of sentimentality. If his formal experiments outstrip his great Norwegian rival Ibsen, his characters and themes - family honor, pedigree, class propriety - are much more mired in the 19th century.

As seen at their final previews, "The Pelican" and "Storm" seem as dramatically inert as most of "Ghost Sonata." That's odd in the case of "Pelican," a revenge drama - without much revenge - for the adult children of a new widow who is trying to steal their inheritance. But the plot is sketchy and, except for Danielle O'Hare's self-righteous Mother, the acting is as flat as the script.

It also suffers from being the only play without actors James Carpenter and Robert Parsons, who inject nuanced emotional depth - as old, close but reserved brothers - into the meandering "Storm." Some over-emoting in the uneven ensemble undermines the general effect.

Rekindled sibling distrust between Carpenter's genially cynical Arvid and Parsons' wary, venal Rudolph drives "Burned House" as well. If the many unearthed family secrets aren't very interesting, an arson investigation holds the plot together, and most of the cast revels in depicting the local-color characters.

Oddly, it's the flagrantly sentimental "Black Glove" that works best. Written in 1909, two years after the other plays, it's "A Christmas Carol" with a bit of "Faust" (Carpenter in a kindly, befuddled mode).